Mike Love of Coffee Lab Roasters in Tarrytown visits a coffee farm in Hawaii, one of the sustainable operations he uses to source product for his brews.Photo Credit: Coffee Lab Roasters/FacebookCoffee Lab Roasters in Tarrytown always seems to draw a crowd.Photo Credit: YelpA barista at Coffee Lab Roasters in Tarrytown uses an intriguing looking gadget to brew some beans. Called a siphon, it is currently the most popular way of preparing coffee in Japan.Photo Credit: YelpAlicia Love, co-owner of Coffee Lab Roasters in Tarrytown, samples brews during a coffee competition.Photo Credit: Coffee Lab Roasters

Who Brews Westchester's Best Coffee?

The Black Cow Coffee Co., Croton, Pleasantville

14%

Coffee Lab Roasters, Tarrytown

33%

First Village Coffee, Ossining

18%

The Kitchen Table, Pound Ridge

10%

The Peekskill Coffee House, Peekskill

25%

The aroma alone can send you into a caffeine jolt. We asked for your favorites; five are now in the running in our DVlicious contest for Westchester's best. Each is being profiled this week. Let your fingers do the clicking while you sip, savor – and vote.

Voting ends at 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27.
You are allowed to vote multiple times, albeit once per day.

What Makes It "Strong":
Just in case its logo – a panting dog – isn’t enough of a hint, here’s the deal: Coffee Lab is named for owners Mike and Alicia Love’s pet chocolate Labradors and not the Hario V60 pour-over device and other high-tech gear it uses to roast, grind and brew up beans directly sourced from faraway places such as Burundi and Honduras.

The Loves don’t just talk the talk about giving back to the planet. Mike, a retired chef, is in charge of the roastery and judges international tasting competitions. He is, his wife says, an 18-time winner of barista competitions. Alicia, a counselor by trade, has worked for such organizations as Global Volunteers and once helped build a community center in Costa Rica. Together, they founded Westchester Taste of Relief, a nonprofit that raised thousands for 9/11 victims.

In the bean biz for more than 13 years, the Loves are not ones to let things get old, but cold? -- that’s another story. According to a profile in
The New York Times
, they have been working with other small Hudson Valley craftsmen, such as The Peekskill Brewery, to create coffee-based beers, of all things. One of the frosty brews birthed by this union is Wake Up Call, a pale ale made with beans from Villa Gladys, a farm in Colombia.